Erin Scully

Psychology and Biology Double MajorMinneapolis, Minnesota

I’ve always been a hands-on learner, so you can imagine what a good experience it’s been for me to go get into the lab and get involved in research. I’ve been working on a project in neuroscience with my adviser, Prof. Olga Lazareva, looking at the amazing visual abilities of birds.

We are examining the kind of cells and neurotransmitters involved when a bird discerns objects from the background behind them. That’s our real focus as we train our pigeons to poke little targets on a computer touch screen.

When I started on the project, I was a bit nervous about it, but there were a lot of people there to help me. Now, I’m about to go to New Orleans to present our findings at a professional conference, hosted by the Society for Neuroscience. We’re hoping to publish the work, and I’ll be listed as a co-author.

I’m looking at neuroscience graduate programs, and this research experience is an incredible advantage. It will be an impressive part of my grad school application, and it helped me realize this is really want I want to do in life.